The nature of tubing makes it difficult to transport, position and grip so that it can be cut, welded, bent or further fabricated. Typically, standard mill length tubing of up to 20 feet (6 m) is transported on an arbor of sufficient length to accommodate the tubing by means of a feed mechanism. Understandably, the arbor and feed mechanism require a large amount of space for proper operation.
Another type of apparatus transports tubing by means of a hitch-feed apparatus. The hitch-feed apparatus moves the tubing by grasping it with a clamp and moving forward. Because the hitch-feed portion of the apparatus operates over a short distance, it requires multiple grasping and movement functions to move an extended piece of tubing. The hitch-feed clamp is grossly adjustable to accommodate tubing of different outside diameters but the clamp often mars the outside of tubing by leaving imprints from the teeth of the clamp. Furthermore, in some instances the clamping action becomes too tight and crushes the tubing thus rendering that particular piece of tubing useless.
Finally, tubing is held by manually adjustable clamps when cutting, bending and other operations are performed. These clamps, like the hitch feed apparatus, will mar the tubing if they are adjusted too tightly. They can also crush the tubing if adjusted extremely tightly.
Thus, a need has developed in the industry for a tube transport apparatus which is easier to load and operate, which occupies a smaller amount of space and which will not crush the tubing as it is fed through the apparatus.